Electric grill



United States Patent [72] Inventors Charles HrShaper Houston, Tex.;Milton W. Lowe; John E. Germann, Houston, Tex. [21] Appl. No. 680,690[22] Filed Nov. 6, 1967 [45] Patented Sept. 8, 1970 [73] Assignee Char-0Corporation Houston, Tex., a corporation of Texas [541 ELECTRIC GRILL 3Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 99/400, 99/446: 219/463 [51] int. Cl A47j 37/07 [50] Fieldof Search 219/455, 458, 463, 467, 347, 348, 349, 524, 465; 99/385, 400,425, 444, 446, 450, 339, 401, 375, 447

. [56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,174,863 3/1965 Shoup99/385X 3,490,359 1/1970 Seitz 99/400 2,258,144 10/1941 Parr et a1...219/405X 2,266,100 12/1941 Uhlrig 219/415X Primary Examiner-Billy .l.Wilhite An0rney Pravel, Wilson & Matthews ABSTRACT: This specificationdiscloses an electric barbecue grill including a housing having acooking grid, a unitized electric heating coil and control switch and areflecting grease catching tray mounted therein which are readilyremovable therefrom; the components are so arranged that a portion ofthe drippings from heat being cooked is vaporized to smoke whichprovides the barbecue flavor to the meat; the components are providedwith a relative spacing to assure that adequate heat is available at thecooking surface of the grid for usual barbecuing even when electricityis available only from a normal 1 10- 120 volt, 15 amp house circuit.

ELECTRIC GRILL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION smoke which is formed belowthe meat, rises to the cooking I surface and permeates the food toprovide the distinctive barbecue flavor.

Attempts have been made to provide an electric outdoor grill toeliminate the use of charcoal and because electricity does not require apiping connection such as is required for gas grills. Electric grillswhich have been suggested require an electricity supply having apotential of 220-24O volts. Such supply is not readily available withoutspecial installation in most residences. Outdoor electric grillsdesigned to operate on I 10 volt potential electricity are subject tothe disadvantages of too slow cooking, non-uniform distribution of heatto the cooking surface, inadequate smoking of the food resulting in lossof the desired distinctive flavor and the collection of meat drippingsbelow the heating coil which gives rise to the danger of ignition ofsuch drippings.

SUMMARY The present invention relates to an improved cooking grill whichmay utilize the normally available residential electricity of I 10volts.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved cookinggrill which is operable on the usual residential electricity supply forbarbecue cooking.

A further object is to provide an improved electric grill which assuresthat only a reasonable portion of drippings are burned or vaporized tosmoke.

Another object is to provide an improved grill, which may be portable,having a housing containing a grid, tray and a unitized electric heatingcoil and control switch which are all readily removable from thehousing.

A still further object is to provide an improved electric outdoorcooking grill having provision for the collection and storage of excessgrease away from direct exposure from the heating.

Still another object is to provide an improved electric outdoor cookinggrill providing adequate and uniform controlled heating for barbecuecooking over a maximum cooking surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other objects and advantagesare hereinafter set forth with reference to the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electric barbecue grill constructedin accordance with the present invention; FIG. 2 is a plan view of thecooking portion of the grill shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the grill taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2;FIG. 4 is another sectional view taken along line 44 in FIG. 3; and FIG.5 is an enlarged perspective view of the housing support for the heatingcoil and its control box.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. 1, the grillassembly G is supported on the legs which may have wheels (not shown) ontheir lower ends to render the assembly easy to move. The legs 10 ateach end of assembly G are formed from a single tubular member and thehorizontal portion of such members cooperates with the braces 12 toprovide support for the work surface 14 and the housing 16. If desired,a bar 18 may be connected at one end of the assembly G to provide ahandle for moving the assembly G. It should be noted that the housing 16is located in one corner of the assembly G to provide a maximum area ofwork surface 14 on two sides of the cooking area.

The housing 16 includes the pan 20 and the cover 22 which is preferablypivotally mounted to the pan 20 so that in its closed or lower positionit covers the pan 20 to allow smoking of the food being cooked. Also, itis preferable that the cover 22 be easily removable from the pan 20 sothat when it is not to be used, it may be easily removed from theassembly G.

The pan 20 has a bottom and upwardly extending sides and endsand is openat the top as best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. The notehesj24 aredefined in the upper part of the ends of pan 20. Th ese notches 24 areprovided to receive portions of the cooking 'grid 26 to support thecooking grid 26 in a position' spanning the upper open end of the pan20. The clips 28 are securedfito the sides of pan 20 by suitable means,such as, spot 'w elding', to provide support for the tray 30 within thehousing pan "20 at a position spaced below the grid 26 as best shown inFIG. 4. Means is provided to removably support the electric heating coil32 within the housing pan 20 between the cookin g'g'r' 26 and the tray30 with the relative spacing being presfelected jivithin the limits ashereinafter set forth. The bracket34 is connected to the coil 32 andrests on tray 30 to provide support for the outer end of-heating coil32.

The means supporting heating coil 32 includes the U- shape dclip 36through which the two ends of the heating coil 32 extend and thebrackets 38 secured to the inside of housing pan 20 at thesides of slot40 defined by pan 20. The clip 36 is also secured to the control box 42.Thus, the heating coil 32 is readily installed by sliding the free endof clip 36 into the space defined by the brackets 38. The underside ofthe clip 36 when installed, rests on the lip 43 of the pan 20 atopposite sides of the slot 40.

The tray 30 is adapted to function as a heat reflector for heating coil32 and to drain the drippings to the collector pan 44 which ispositioned within the housing pan 20 beneath the slot 46 defined in oneend of the tray 30. As can be seen in FIG. 3, tray 30 is formed to slopetoward slot 46 when installed in pan 20. It is preferred that tray 30include a disposable liner 48 having the same shape and slope as tray30. Such liner 48 may be made from aluminum foil. It is used in the tray30 until it loses its heat reflecting ability and then it is replaced bya new liner 48. If desired, the liner 48 may be omitted, provided thereflecting surfaces of tray 30 are maintained sufficiently bright toperform the desired heat reflecting function. This heat reflection isdesirable when the electricity supplied to the heating coil 32 islimited to the usual residential outlet such as l l0 l20 volts and 15amps. With such limited power, the heat developed by the heating coil 32is not normally adequate for the desired barbecue cooking on a maximumcooking area without an effective heat reflecting tray 30.

The cooking grid 26 is shown to provide a space for receiving the saucepan 50 at one end so that sauce contained therein is readily availableto the cooking area for basting. Also, the proximity of the sauce pan 50to the cooking area keeps the sauce warm.

The control box 42 contains suitable control means for regulating theelectric power supplied to the heating coil 32 and such control means isadjusted by the control knob 52. Electric connection .to the control box42 is provided by the flexible cord 54 which includes a plug 56 adaptedto engage in an available electric receptacle.

As previously mentioned, barbecue grilling over a maximum grilling areawith a limited supply of electrical power is best'achieved bycontrolling the relative spaced relationship of the cooking surface, theheating coil and the reflection surface on the; bottom interior of tray30. The space between the upper surface of the heating coil 32 and thecooking surface defined by the cooking grid 26 is recommended to bewithin the range of one-fourth to one-half inch and preferablythreeeighths of an inch. The average spacing between heating coil andthe bottom reflecting surface of tray 30 (or liner 48, if used) isrecommended to be within the range from one-half to one and one-halfinches and preferably three-fourths of an inch.

The aforementioned spacing has been found to provide sufficient heat atthe cooking surface with a limited power supply to provide a uniform andadequate heat for all types of barbecue cooking. The preferred heatingcoil 32 is a conductor insulated with a heating sheath and having itslength adjusted to provide a watt density in the cooking area ofapproximately eight to eleven watts per square inch. Such heating coilwith a configuration as shown in FIG. 2, when supplied with 110- 120volt, 15 amp electric power, and installed in a grill assembly G havingthe above recommended spacings, provides uniform and adequate heatingfor all types of barbecue cook- The heating coil 32 is preferred to havea configuration similar to the showing of FIG. 2 or some otherconfiguration in which all of the cooking area is positionedsufficiently close to a portion of the heating coil to assure a uniformheating of the entire cooking area. The coil configuration shownincludes four equally spaced straight leg sections joined together bysuitable bends to form one continuous heating element.

From the foregoing it can be seen that the present invention provides anelectric cooking grill suitable for barbecue cooking to vaporize only aportion of the grease drippings and conduct the grease not vaporizedaway from the heating coil to prevent excessive burning of such grease.This grill is designed to utilize the usual residential electric outletshaving only a 1 l- 120 volt, amp supply for reasonably fast uniformcooking over the entire cooking surface. Such uniform cooking isachieved on the limited power supply by utilizing the desired spacingrelationships for the cooking grid, the heating coil and the reflectortray. In such structure, the cooking grid, the heating coil and itscontrol box, and the reflector tray are all easily removed from thehousing. Further, the reflector tray may be provided with a replaceablelining to assure that the heat reflection of the tray is maintained at alevel sufficient for the desired cooking.

We claim:

1. An electric grill, comprising:

a housing having a bottom and sides and being open at the top;

a reflector tray removably supported within said housing;

an electric heating coil;

means supplying electricity to said heating coil;

a control box containing control means to vary the electricity suppliedto said heating coil and being connected to said heating coil;

a U-shaped clip secured to said control box;

means on said housing defining a slot for receiving one end of said clipwhereby said control box and said heating coil are supported on saidhousing with said heating coil positioned above said reflector tray andmay be removed as a unit from said housing; and

a cooking grid removably supported by said housing across the' open topthereof in a position above said heating coil.

2. An electric grill according to claim 1 including:

a bracket connected to said heating coil at a position spaced from said(control box and adapted to engage said tray to support said heatingcoil.

3. An electric grill comprising:

a. a housing having a bottom and sides and being open at the top;

b. acooking grid, removably supported by said housing adjacent the opentop thereof, and having openings therethrough to permit grease from meatbeing cooked thereon to pass through such grid;

c. a substantially flat reflector tray supported in said housing beneathsaid cooking grid;

d. an electric heating coil removably supported on said housing, saidcoil being connected to a voltage source of about '1 10 to volts andsaid coil being positioned onefourth toone-half inch below the uppersurface of said cooking grid for vaporizing grease dripped thereon frommeat being cooked on said cooking grid without such grease igniting;

e. said reflector tray being positioned one-half inch to one andone-half inches below said heating coil for reflecting heat therefrom tobroil the meat on said cooking surface and to prevent such grease whichreaches said tray from igniting, and said reflecting tray having meansfor directing grease dripping past said heating coil away from suchcoil; and

. means for effecting a removal of such grease from said reflector tray.

